Chapter 32:
After Natsu, Makarov 2.0., Erza and her counterpart and Mira 2.0. caried everyone inside Natsu took Gildarts 2.0. upstairs to infirmary. If you look at Gildarts 2.0. it was pretty obvious that he was having nightmares. There was frown on his face, sometimes expression of horror and sometimes even few tears.
Makarov 2.0. looked at his ace worried. After few seconds he get out of the infirmary knowing that he can't awake him anytime soon. Natsu already left infirmary the second he put Gildarts 2.0. on bed. Makarov 2.0. sighed and went to the main hall leaving Crash mage alone.
When he got in the hall he wasn't really surprised whit what he saw. Almost everyone was already awoken and most of them was shocked to hear that Gildarts 2.0. was defeated.
Of course certain Fire dragon slayer wasn't quiet about this.
"I don't believe you beat old man!" pink-haired 'knucklehead' yelled.
Natsu was just sitting in front of his counterpart looking at him whit annoyed and bored expression.
"And why is that?" Natsu asked with his eyebrow twitching.
"Because... Because it's just like I said! You couldn't do that! There's no way!" Natsu 2.0. shouted.
Listening their conversation Makarov 2.0. noticed that both Erzas walking toward them.
"Look Natsu. You saw what he's capable of doing. I saw him doing that. And don't forget that Gildarts is in infirmary and your counterpart is right in front of you." Erza 2.0. said putting her hand on his shoulder.
"I saw him too and believe me when I say that I'm sure that he can do much more then this." Erza said as she sit next to Natsu from her universe.
Natsu 2.0. pouted slightly but after a second his face was again wearing his famous grin and there was excitement in his eyes.
"Well then it looks like there's one more for me to surpass!" He shouted and then jumped on table shooting fire from his mouth "I'M ALL FIRED UP!"
Erzas chuckled and walk to the bar to ask Mira for another piece of their beloved cake.
Natsu just raised eyebrow at his counterpart statement "'I'm all fired up?' What's that suppose to mean?"
Natsu 2.0. looked at dragon and grinned again "That means that I'm ready to do my hardest to get to my goal. That means that I will do everything for people I care about. That means that my flames will never extinguish until I do what I have to do to protect my nakama, my family! To protect Fairy Tail!" he shouted at the end.
Natsu looked at him surprised. 'He's doing all this for his nakama. He want to become stronger to protect them. Why I want to become stronger?'
Then to his surprise Natsu's 2.0. face turned serious "You're strong..." Natsu 2.0. started "...stronger then me... I was thinking... I would be really happy if you would train me"
Natsu looked at him dumbfounded and blinked. Then, surprising the others who listened this conversation, he chuckled.
"You are stronger then you think" Natsu said and Natsu 2.0. looked at him confused.
"What do you mean?" Natsu 2.0 asked.
Natsu chuckled and said "You really are an idiot"
"Hey! I'M NOT AN IDIOT!" Natsu 2.0. yelled making his counterpart chuckling again, almost laughing.
"Did you ever lose a fight against any enemy of your guild?" Dragon prince answered with another question.
"Of course I didn't!"
"Then you're strong enough to be called Natsu Dragneel, Fairy tail's Fire dragon slayer and Fire dragon prince." Natsu said looking at his counterpart straight into the eyes with emotionless face. "I heard that Fire dragons are the most protective ones. They'll do everything to keep those they care about safe. Chaos dragons are pretty much the exact opposite. I was thought to care only about my self and no one else. To become stronger to impress Acnologia. So that he see me as worthy prince and next King. You become stronger for your friends and I know that you'll be always strong enough to save everyone and overcome every threat that will be put in front of you and your guild."
When he finished he smiled warmly at his counterpart who was looking at him with shocked expression.
After few seconds Natsu 2.0. then grinned happily and said "Thank you"
"And I will train you if we see each other ever again when I see how much you improved." Natsu said still smiling.
"No if, when we see each other again." Natsu 2.0. grinned.
At the bar Natsu's friends and their counterparts looked at them smiling.
"They are getting along pretty well." Lucy said taking sip of her orange juice.
"Yeah. I don't remember ever seeing him being so comfortable with someone he just met." Erza said smiling.
"Well they are counterparts so it's not that strange." Mira 2.0. said cleaning some glasses.
Other nodded at that.
"But still... they are pretty different from one another." Gray said and then added "I wounder how would it be if our Natsu was raised by Igneel."
"I asked myself that but I would never change him. He's my brother and I love him for who he is" Wendy stated with bright smile
Other laughed and Erza said "Yes. He's our dragon, our nakama."
**few hours later**
After conversation between Natsu and his counterpart ended Natsu had his emotionless face again while drinking vodka. Natsu 2.0. started another fight with Gray 2.0. and other just talk about regular stuff.
"AAAAHHH!" came shout from infirmary that froze everyone in hall except Natsu who just resume drinking but devilish smile appeared on his face that frightened everybody that saw it.
"Seems like your ace is awake" he said still smiling sickly.
Makarov 2.0. rushed upstairs to see why their ace screamed like little girl few seconds ago.
In infirmary Gildarts 2.0. was sitting on his bed covered in cold sweat, eyes wide with horror.
Makarov 2.0. bursted trough the door and yelled "Gildarts! Whats wrong?!"
Gildarts 2.0. jerked up and turned his head quickly. When he saw Makarov 2.0. he let out sigh of relief.
"Wow... That was one of the worst nightmares I ever had!" he exclaimed.
"I just hope I'll never dream something like that again." Gildarts 2.0. said frowning.
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you but you will." came Natsu's voice from behind Makarov 2.0.
Gildarts's 2.0. eyes grew wide at sight of the wicked smile on teenager's face. Then he registered what Natsu said and looked at him confused "What do you mean?"
Natsu chuckled darkly "The spell I used for last attack is the cause of your nightmares and you will have one every time you fall asleep"
"W-what?" was all Gildarts 2.0. able to say. He couldn't go trough something like that again!
Makarov 2.0. seeing his child's face tried to reassure him "He will remove the spell when you apologize for calling his father... um I mean Acnologia a monster"
Gildarts 2.0. looked at Natsu who nodded to confirm what Makarov 2.0. said.
Gildarts 2.0. swallowed his pride and said "I'm sorry. I truly am. I didn't know that it would hurt you. I didn't mean anything bad. I said that but it meant just that Acnologia's really powerful. People call me monster too because of mine strength so I didn't know you'll take it so hard."
Natsu's face lost its smile and turned emotionless and his eyes became cold. Gildarts 2.0. wasn't sure if he liked more when he was emotionless or when he had that evil smile. Both were scary in their own way. Natsu studied older man's face like looking for any sign of lying. After good minute of intense silence Natsu finally nodded "Okay. I believe you."
"Will you remove the spell?" Makarov 2.0. asked hopefully.
"Yes I will. But I must worn you. It'll hurt slightly." Natsu said and then his right hand became covered with scales and his finger turned in claws that looked similar as those when he used the spell. He then stabbed his clawed fingers in Gildarts 2.0. skull as both men's eyes widen at sudden attack. At the time Natsu take his claws out Gildarts 2.0. was already sleeping with happy smile on his face snoring.
Makarov 2.0. looked wide-eyed at the boy who's hand turned back to normal.
Natsu caught old man's look and asked slightly annoyed "What?!"
"Nothing... It just surprised me that you done it so fast" Makarov 2.0. said and added "Do you know when will he wake up?"
"I have no idea. Not that I really care" he deadpanned and left infirmary with his hands in his pockets.
Makarov sighed and left the infirmary.
When Natsu get again in hall he sat at the bar next to Wendy. Wendy turned her head from her drink to look at Natsu. She smiled and asked "So you remove the spell?"
"Yes" Natsu said shortly. He was getting tired. Turning to his demon form and fought two mages in the same day wasn't easy to do especially if you slept only two hours that night and in those two hours having one more of his many nightmares that were actually just memories from his childhood. It wouldn't be uch of a problem since there were nights when he didn't get much sleep but it rarely lasted entire week.
Even thought he was really good at hiding it Wendy knew him much better then any other at the bar and she could see that he was tired.
"You know which spell he used last?" Gray 2.0. asked looking at young dragon slayer.
"Yea.. I saw him once using that spell when we were on mission." Wendy said with smile trying not to think about her brother tiredness because shhe knew he didn't like to talk much about something like that.
"Did Acnologia teach you that spell?" Lucy joined in conversation trying to look Natsu in eyes.
"No" Natsu said shortly.
"Then you made it yourself?" Erza 2.0. asked curious.
"No"
"Then..." Lucy tried to find explanation.
"Do you remember when I told you about my training with Acnologia?" Natsu asked surprising the group. Those from his universe nodded carefully not knowing what to expect.
"Do you remember what I said he did to me when I failed him?" he asked another question. And those who knew frowned remembering what he said.
"You said that he punished you" Lucy said quietly.
"Yes, and what else did I say. How did he do that?" No one liked where this conversation was going.
"Physically and mentally using illusions" Erza said.
"Correct" Natsu said emotionless "He never teach me that spell. He used it on me."
Everyone's eyes were wide with horror. Lucy, Lucy 2.0., Strauss sisters, Erza and her counterpart and two little Wendys covered their mouths in horror.
"I learned that spell after it was used on me couple of times."
Then Wendy looked him straight into the eyes "Are you still under that spell?"
"No" was all he said.
No one at bar spoke around thirty minutes before Makarov 2.0. said "I't getting pretty late. If you want you can go and sleep in infirmary and tomorrow we will sent you home"
They looked around and noticed that almost everyone had left already. Only those that sat at the bar stayed. Wendy looked at watch. 11:59 p.m.
"Well we well get going. If you want, some of you can come to my apartment." Lucy 2.0. said as she get up and start walking out of the guild.
"I'll go with you" Lucy said and run after her counterpart.
Slowly everyone left and that left Wendy, Gajeel, Erza, Gary, cats and Natsu.
"Well lets get some sleep ourselves" Erza said and they nodded and went in infirmary.
Soon everyone fell asleep.
**dream**
Small eight years old boy was standing in rubble of the town that was there just few hours ago. The boy was trying to find any survivors it this place that looked like hell. The smell of burning flesh and blood was everywhere in the air. Sky was hided by thick curtain of smoke and ashes. As far as your eye could see there was nothing but fire, corpses and in the middle of it... was pink haired boy. His clothes was all black and his shirt had strange blue markings. He was drenched in sticky red fluid that was certainly blood. If you looked closer you could see that boy wasn't hurt or wounded. The blood wasn't his.
"AAAAHHH" came suddenly a scream
The boy sniffed the air to find where the scream came from. He find the source under large piece of the wall that was lying on ground. He lifted the piece with one arm without much trouble. When women saw that someone is lifting the wall her eyes lit up with hope.
"Thank goodness you find me si...r" the woman's eyes filled with horror as she watch the boy that destroyed entire town. Killed everyone without the moment hesitation.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed "GET AWAY FROM ME YOU MONSTER!"
The boy's eyes widened slightly when women call him a monster. His surprise was soon replaced with rage.
"YOU BITCH!" the boy yelled as he brought down his hand at alerting speed toward her chest. The next second the boy was staring at woman's heart in his hand and hole in her chest. Her blood splashed his face. The boy let her heart fall on floor and licked her blood from his hand. He turned and walked away from all the people he killed that day like nothing happened.
After few days of walking the boy finally came back to his cave. There inside of the cave lay big dark figure. Figure came out on the light to show massive black dragon with blue markings. By looking at it you could tell it wasn't happy.
"You brat!" dragon growled "I told you to be back in five days!"
Boy looked at dragon with fear in his eyes "I-I'm sorry Acnologia... but I w-was gone only seven days..."
That seemed to enraged the dragon even more.
"I d-did kill everyone it that-t village as you a-asked..." the boy stuttered.
"I didn't ask you to be late!" Acnologia roared and lifted his clawed paw.
"P-please dad" the boy said shooting his eyes closed and waiting for rushing claws to pierce his flesh.
"You insignificant brat!" dragon roared and brought his claw down right on boy's foot piercing right trough it.
"AAAAAHHH" boy let out cry of pain.
**end of a dream**
Natsu jerked up looking around himself to see if he wake up someone but lucky for him he didn't. He sighed as he brushed cold sweat off of his forehead and stood up from his bed looking at the clock. 3:12 a.m.
He tired to sleep again and when he finally fall asleep he was fallowed by another nightmare.
End of chapter 32.
Next chapter: Let's go home.
I hope you like it. Please review and thanks for reading :)